Exactly 17 months after a train-bus collision in Biloxi that left four people dead and 38 injured, the National Transportation Safety Board is meeting in Washington to determine the probable cause of the accident. And based on information that's already been released, there's plenty of blame to go around. That includes a faulty crossing design, the bus driver who ignored a warning sign, a GPS system that didn't recommend a detour, and the train engineer who didn't immediately apply his brakes when he saw the bus that was stuck on the track.
Pascagoula Mayor Dane Maxwell is asking the county to help pay for projects the city can’t afford, and they’ve indicated a willingness to help out. A recent audit revealed Pascagoula is $14-million in the red. The Mayor says even though it didn’t happen under his watch, he feels the need to apologize to residents. He and 2 council members have given up their salaries.
An appeal filed on behalf of 200 retirees in the Singing River Health System pension settlement is being dismissed. The system is required to deposit $156-million into the retirement trust over the next 35 years, which would fully compensate the plan for missed contributions over a period from 2009 to 2014. Lawyers argued the settlement can’t last for the lifetime of all the beneficiaries, so it’s inadequate.
Another of the five co-defendants in the 2015 brutal slaying of Tena Broadus is headed to prison. Broadus' boyfriend, Aaron Bobbinger of Gulfport, has been ordered to serve 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact to murder. Bobbinger and two others allegedly dumped Broadus' body in the Biloxi River.
Autopsies are being done on five state prison inmates who've died since last Thursday. Four of the deaths occurred this past weekend but the Department of Corrections say there's no connection between them. The inmates included two men serving life sentences for murder - Jack Glisson from Jones County and Albert McGee from Jackson County. Both were being held at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution. Glisson had been in prison for almost 41 years. He was 70. McGee died exactly 28 years after he was sentenced. He was 57.
Quite a jump in the number of confirmed West Nile cases in our state. 6 new cases were added to the list yesterday, that’s a total of 13 statewide. While none are being reported along our coast, experts say you should still take precautions.
More Mississippians will be heading west to help battle wildfires. Since the spring, as many as 40 Mississippi Forestry Commission employees have worked fires in seven states, most of them on two-week assignments. And next week, the commission expects to send a 20-member hand tool crew to California, Oregon or Washington. Also, more than 20 members of the Bureau of Land Management's Jackson Hotshots have been fighting fires in Colorado for several weeks now.
We now know more about why Jackson Zoo executive director Beth Poff is currently on administrative leave. It seems she's admitted to state finance officials that she misused 350-thousand-dollars in bond money allocated for infrastructure improvements to cover various zoo operations, including the facility's payroll and utilities. She says the funds will be repaid once other funds are received. It was just last Thursday that the zoo's board of directors placed Poff on leave after a vote of no-confidence.